This really wouldn't be much a debate for me. 1st thing, I probably wouldn't be taking a trip to georgia worry about mpg. 2nd thing, I wouldn't be taking a trip to georgia just for parts, but that's just me

If your buddy will lend you his blazer then you need to go with that. you don't have to worry about re-selling it; possibly loosing money, buying a decent truck that turns out to be a lemon. As long as you know that blazer and you know there aren't any big issues with it then it's a no-brainer. Use the free vehicle where all you have to pay is gas and maybe a few greenbacks towards your buddy

Actually, none of the quotes I've gotten turned out that way. If you can find a way to get it shipped for $300, I'll do it....

Quote:

Originally Posted by wave_crusher

This really wouldn't be much a debate for me. 1st thing, I probably wouldn't be taking a trip to georgia worry about mpg. 2nd thing, I wouldn't be taking a trip to georgia just for parts, but that's just me

If your buddy will lend you his blazer then you need to go with that. you don't have to worry about re-selling it; possibly loosing money, buying a decent truck that turns out to be a lemon. As long as you know that blazer and you know there aren't any big issues with it then it's a no-brainer. Use the free vehicle where all you have to pay is gas and maybe a few greenbacks towards your buddy

Yea I don't typically drive all the way down south for parts, but the tub was a great deal. I'm not worrying about the mpg so much I guess as I am wondering whether the 4cyl will be overworked and do terrible, while the v6 or straight six wouldn't be, so it would do better. Trying to figure out what's best suited to the job.

I'll have to see if he'll lend me his blazer. That is definitely my number one choice if he lets me, but idk if he will. And I'm NOT sure if there are any big issues with it, but if there are I know he wont let me take it.

Your going to want/need at leat a 6 cylinder. Not so much for the load you're hauling but for the hills you'll be driving through. You'll def want a bigger 6 cyliner like a 4.3/4.0. No really so much for the hp but the torque; personally i'd go with a newish zj/xj, the 4.0s in them have a nice torque curve and should drive nice for the trip. plus their pretty easy to find.

Or a ford 4.0, or go with a fullsize with a straight 6/manual. They are great for towing. I'd go with a fullsize truck just because of the size you'll have more control of your trailer. Find a cheap gm w/t with a 4.3 manual. or even a 5.0 manual. I guess it really just depends on what your ok with buying and driving for a 1,400 mile round trip

I would buy a 4cyl 5 speed s10 for light towing and decent gas milage.A freind pulls a small trailer with a skag zero turn,push mower,back pack blowers,weed whip,edger,gas cans and all his rakes and shovels.It pulls it fine and gets over 20 mpg loaded.
I have had a dozen 4.3 s10 autos and never got more then 16 mpg on a good day.A full size 1/2 ton chevy will do better with a v8. I drive hard,your results may be different.
The best mpg I ever got with a s10 had a dz302 from a 69 z28 and a t5 5speed.
I have a 99 explorer 4.0 awd that gets about 16 mpg.It tows a snowmobile trailer ok,but s10s have 30 more hp,and the trans in the ford never knows what gear it should be in.
My explorer is clean,only has 148,000 on it,it is full of new parts,there is no way I would trust it to go that far based on the few months I've owned it.
If it came down to a s10 or ranger,explorer or blazer I would pick the chevy everytime.
I hate fords but the 2wd f150 300 six with a stick is a good option.

Your going to want/need at leat a 6 cylinder. Not so much for the load you're hauling but for the hills you'll be driving through. You'll def want a bigger 6 cyliner like a 4.3/4.0. No really so much for the hp but the torque; personally i'd go with a newish zj/xj, the 4.0s in them have a nice torque curve and should drive nice for the trip. plus their pretty easy to find.

Or a ford 4.0, or go with a fullsize with a straight 6/manual. They are great for towing. I'd go with a fullsize truck just because of the size you'll have more control of your trailer. Find a cheap gm w/t with a 4.3 manual. or even a 5.0 manual. I guess it really just depends on what your ok with buying and driving for a 1,400 mile round trip

hmm ok. that's what I needed to know, thanks. So should I stay away from the automatics in these fullsize trucks? I've seen the I6 in manual and auto form. Same with the 5.0, are these reliable as autos? (which I see more of). any reason to avoid the 350 with an auto trans?

One other thing, what about a dakota? the 3.9 magnum is a good engine and they seem to be pretty good trucks. a decent amount of them are manual too.

I would buy a 4cyl 5 speed s10 for light towing and decent gas milage.A freind pulls a small trailer with a skag zero turn,push mower,back pack blowers,weed whip,edger,gas cans and all his rakes and shovels.It pulls it fine and gets over 20 mpg loaded.
I have had a dozen 4.3 s10 autos and never got more then 16 mpg on a good day.A full size 1/2 ton chevy will do better with a v8. I drive hard,your results may be different.
The best mpg I ever got with a s10 had a dz302 from a 69 z28 and a t5 5speed.
I have a 99 explorer 4.0 awd that gets about 16 mpg.It tows a snowmobile trailer ok,but s10s have 30 more hp,and the trans in the ford never knows what gear it should be in.
My explorer is clean,only has 148,000 on it,it is full of new parts,there is no way I would trust it to go that far based on the few months I've owned it.
If it came down to a s10 or ranger,explorer or blazer I would pick the chevy everytime.
I hate fords but the 2wd f150 300 six with a stick is a good option.

ok awesome info. so ur in favor of the 4 cyl towing? what about a 4 cyl 5 speed ranger?

anyone have opinions on the 3.9 magum dakota manual?

So the options you give are a 4 cyl 5 speed truck, the ford i6, or a full size with v8? so, like a bit of everything, except the explorer?

I'm sorry but you are an idiot. If you have money to blow buying a truck to use for a weekend, then it will be a better use of your money to rent a pick-up and go get it. You can have the truck inspected but unexpected things happen, especially if you don't know the vehicle well. Not to mention you then have to resell the truck and hope you get your money back assuming nothing breaks on it.

I'm sorry but you are an idiot. If you have money to blow buying a truck to use for a weekend, then it will be a better use of your money to rent a pick-up and go get it. You can have the truck inspected but unexpected things happen, especially if you don't know the vehicle well. Not to mention you then have to resell the truck and hope you get your money back assuming nothing breaks on it.

lol i appreciate the compliment, but I'm actually pretty smart. The money will not be "blown." I have one other short distance hauling trip to do after I get home with the parts. Sure I have to resell the truck, but I don't have a problem with that. I'm not buying a piece of junk, only something that has been kept up.

At $315 for gas, and $800 to drive a rental truck, plus $315 in gas, I think driving a non rental is the better deal. Do the math.

If I buy a $1500 truck, I'll use it for 2 weekends. With the rental, I'd need it returned in 3 days or my price goes up. The rental is $800 that can't be recovered. The truck could be resold and the money would be recovered. Even if some things went wrong, I still have a cushion on price.

Also, the inspection has nothing to do with whether things will go wrong because I don't know the truck. I maintain the fluids, look and listen for issues, and take the advice of mechanics. Sure things can go wrong, but nothing will go wrong simply because I don't know the vehicle. I know of how to take care of cars.

You don't seem to have researched the suggestions YOU made, or else you would have realized how "idiotic" they are. just saying. and if you had read the posts before you, you'd see that the renting a truck from uhaul option is not a good one for me to consider.

thanks for your advice, if you have anything more helpful and less demeaning, feel free to post it.

k, well I'm not planning on buying a truck that needs a ton of work. it will be a decent vehicle, and I'll have it inspected before I buy it.

I didn't even post an ad of a truck yet, why does everyone think it will need so much work? I'm not buying a $500 truck that needs a trans or something lol. Sure it may need some basic stuff, but I'm accounting for that.

I have, btw, moved on to 6 cyl's. I have only had one recommendation on the 4 cyl.

I need help finding a truck that you all recommend for this trip, NOT whether you think I have enough planned into my maintenance schedule.

720 miles one way. You're allowed 150 miles per day or 300. YOu have to pay .25 a mile for the rest.

you're at $200 total so far. Now gas $4 a gallon over 720 miles at 15 mpg (should get better out of a new fullsize) another $200 in fuel.

Plus plane ticket.....

Buy a truck, put $1000 into it to make it road worthy, drive it down there, $400 in fuel, try to sell truck....This option doesn't look cheaper and has disaster written all over it.

Either ship the hard top, find a local hardtop, or realize you can't afford it.

hmmm ok. well it tells me $65 a day..... so $130.... I don't see how I get more than 150 miles free..... even if I did, 300 miles free leaves me with 420 left, which in total will cost me $105 in fees and $200 in fuel @15 mpg for the trip.
So I'm at ~$430. plus plane ticket.
since this is the worst time of the season to fly cheaply, the ticket will be a min of $300. most prices appear to be over $500 though. so say $400....

gives me a grand total of $830, and I'll still need a trailer, since I'm flying down. There's another $100 at least for those miles. I'll be looking at close to a grand that way....
o and btw, it's a tub, not a hardtop.

No truck I'll be buying will need 1k in work to be road worthy. I'm buying one that is road worthy, or needs minor repairs, like tires or brakes etc.

$320 in gas, $1500 for a truck, free trailer. sell the truck for $1200 (I'll get more out of it than that though), and I'm at $620. Seems to be a better deal to me. If I get help choosing the right truck, my fuel could be under $300....
but everyone seems to think flying down there AND renting a truck back is cheaper. I just don't see it, I'm sorry.

All that said, does anyone have beef with the dakota 3.9 magnum manual, the ford 4.9 manual, or the ranger 4.0 manual?

Alright, well here are my known problems with some of those options. It will cost me $700 to pay to have it shipped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 82cj7ltd

$320 in gas, $1500 for a truck, free trailer. sell the truck for $1200 (I'll get more out of it than that though), and I'm at $620. Seems to be a better deal to me. If I get help choosing the right truck, my fuel could be under $300....
but everyone seems to think flying down there AND renting a truck back is cheaper. I just don't see it, I'm sorry.

All that said, does anyone have beef with the dakota 3.9 magnum manual, the ford 4.9 manual, or the ranger 4.0 manual?

Didn't you say it was only $700 to ship?

You're gonna go through the hassle of spending $1500 on a truck, spend 2 days on the road, meals, gas, hotel, all to save $80

I would not buy a truck for $1500 and drive down to Georgia and back just for a tub. You don't know any unknown problems that it will have. You could get down there, pick up the parts, then be 200 miles out of GA and break down and not have any money to fix your truck.

IMO It seems like too much of a hassle just for parts. Do you need to have these parts ASAP? Or are you just jumping on a good deal?

hmmm ok. well it tells me $65 a day..... so $130.... I don't see how I get more than 150 miles free..... even if I did, 300 miles free leaves me with 420 left, which in total will cost me $105 in fees and $200 in fuel @15 mpg for the trip.
So I'm at ~$430. plus plane ticket.
since this is the worst time of the season to fly cheaply, the ticket will be a min of $300. most prices appear to be over $500 though. so say $400....

gives me a grand total of $830, and I'll still need a trailer, since I'm flying down. There's another $100 at least for those miles. I'll be looking at close to a grand that way....
o and btw, it's a tub, not a hardtop.

No truck I'll be buying will need 1k in work to be road worthy. I'm buying one that is road worthy, or needs minor repairs, like tires or brakes etc.

$320 in gas, $1500 for a truck, free trailer. sell the truck for $1200 (I'll get more out of it than that though), and I'm at $620. Seems to be a better deal to me. If I get help choosing the right truck, my fuel could be under $300....
but everyone seems to think flying down there AND renting a truck back is cheaper. I just don't see it, I'm sorry.

All that said, does anyone have beef with the dakota 3.9 magnum manual, the ford 4.9 manual, or the ranger 4.0 manual?

You know You can rent a truck from other places then u haul. I rented one from budget for 400 bucks from charleston sc. to north mi. when i moved back .